Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that the United Arab Emirates’ decision to normalize relations with Israel was “a betrayal of the cause of the Palestinians, the Muslims and Jerusalem.”
In an address that aired on Iran’s IRINN TV, Rouhani said that while the UAE’s population were pious Muslims, its leaders were on “the wrong path,” one that Tehran condemned “100 percent.”
“Will we betray our country, our people, the Muslims, the Arab world, and everyone?” said Rouhani.
The UAE, he continued, had made a “very big mistake” with the normalization move.
“We hope that it will go back on this mistake and understand it is on the wrong path,” said Rouhani, adding, “This path does not serve the interests of the leaders or their security.”
The Iranian leader then warned the UAE “not to give Israel a foothold in the region,” because if it did “we will have a score to settle with them, and we will deal with them differently. They must take heed.”
